Global Traffic Deaths Put at Million a Year

Published: August 29, 2002

GENEVA, Aug. 28—
Traffic accidents kill more than a million people each year, injure additional tens of millions and cost developing countries twice as much as they receive in international aid, a public health expert said today.

The figures have led to an international network on road safety to pinpoint research areas, inform policy makers and work on preventing accidents, particularly in poor nations.

''This is a neglected health problem,'' the expert, Dr. Adnan Hyder, interim secretary of the Road Traffic Injury Research Network, said at a news session. ''The global cost of road accidents in developing and emerging nations is at least $100 billion a year.''

His group, backed by the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Global Forum for Health Research, seeks added international financing to study prevention steps.

Poorly maintained public transportation, Dr. Hyder said, is responsible for 60 to 70 percent of accidents in developing countries, and men from 14 to 45, usually the most productive group in a society, were the most likely to be killed or hurt. The problem is particularly severe in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.